Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Writing Weather

More snow. Shit.This morning, I walked outside through the back door of my house and saw a frustrating layer of new fallen snow covering my truck and yard. I didn't consider it as being---God's gentle covering of nature with a soft blanket of pristine white---that writer's write about. I considered it as, goddammit, just more snow. "Welcome to northern Michigan in April!" I thought.When I attempted to hand-brush the snow from a side window of the truck, I found underneath the snow a thin layer of ice. Enough is enough.I arrived at Woodpecker's Diner for my usual early breakfast. I took my regular seat at my regular table then flipped open my Doodle Pad to pen a few words of early morning prose, anticipating the first mug of strong black coffee.The waitress, Tonya, came quickly to my table with coffee, juice and water. She placed them on the table in front of me while mumbling a few words which, included, "fucking snow". Finished with her first chore on my behalf, she went into the kitchen; presumably to place her choice for my breakfast order today.Waiting for my breakfast, I sat staring at the blank top sheet of paper in the Doodle Pad. No desire to write much of anything. I didn't feel the inspiration to write another vignette, start a new chapter for my novel or, write a few lines for the business book. None of the above had any appeal.Tonya brought my breakfast and made a comment about my just sitting there looking at the blank paper, not writing. She was concerned that I may be feeling ill or something was wrong in my family. I told her I felt fine, there were no family issues, and that I just plain didn't feel like writing. She opined it had to be because of the weather. She concluded the combination of cabin-fever and "this crappy spring weather" sapped away enthusiasm and creativity.Yep, Tonya's likely correct.Does weather influence your writing enthusiasm and creativity?

We're coming up on tornado season here, and this time of year, my writing tends to go in blasts -- some days, I'm damn near prolific, and other days, I wind up writing a sentence and feeling like it was the hardest thing I"d ever wrote.

Course, tornado season brings on rain, and rain can feel depressing or even very scary, and I just can't write when I'm terrified of my house being blown away.

But I do find that weather influences my writing, as well as music. My music choices can REALLY influence my ability to write.

I have a barometer brain. I get headaches when the barometer jumps around. I don't wanna write with a headache.

I like snow. I write well when I know not many people are out roaming around in it.

I don't write well when I'm hot. I could probably write a best-seller while trapped in a mountain cabin but I struggle for words when the mercury jumps over 80 and I'm not wearing minimal layers hiding in air-conditioning.

Music affects what I'm writing so I either try and pick music appropriate to what I plan to write that day/time or work with a movie I've seen a few dozen times playing as white noise in the background.

I don't have to be 'just so' to write. But ideally a cool room with good natural lighting (or lamps but NO flourescents--they literally make me sick), a butt-comforting chair and a typewriter (or wordprocessor I get distracted with anything on a regular computer) is my favorite writing setting.

Here in Central Texas the weather's almost always sunny and bright. The occasional cloudy day - if followed by several - tends to put a damper on my rampant enthusiasm, but then the sun comes back and I'm fine again.

Seasonally, I like pepper but not dill. Okay, enough. SAD, the approaching darkness in the fall, ESPECIALLY after Daylite Savings Time ends, usually causes an overall dip. But this past year it wasn't as bad - probably because of the new meds. I'll have to see about this fall's effects.

When it's raining or blowing I can't write because the computer has to be turned off. Too much chance of lightning zapping the lines around here. Mind you, it hasn't yet, but better safe than sorry.

Rain in and of itself usually doesn't have much effect - specially if it's a slow soaker rain.

Most of Texas is flat except for the super-peaks out west. Right dead center is the Hill Country - a huge limestone plateau that's been eroded over centuries to form valleys and plateau tops, hence "Hill Country." Not mountains, not here. It's radically different from the ultra flatness of the Gulf Coast, where Houston is 50 miles inland and its elevation is 50 feet. San Antonio sits on the coastal plain and partly on the limestone plateau. Nice mix: hills on one side of town, flat plains on the other.

Yeah,Crappy weather.But you wrote something!The commonplace is so hard to write about. "Write about that wall," an istructor once told me. Ever try it? Damn hard to do. So you wrote about Breakfast at Woodpeckers and that was ok. I could just smell the atmosphere and the coffee.Nothin' much ever happens around here?Don't believe it.

Yeah, I live right smack dab in the middle of the Hill Country. It's beautiful here. That's why I live here instead of in a noisy busy jostling city. I have absolute quiet on my front porch. Very, very peaceful, soul-satisfying.

Love the Hill COuntry. I go there every year for family reunions in Salado--beautiful town.

Erik:

I tend to get in slumps as the weather drags on. I guess I get bored if it's same old same old every day. I love the beginning of each new season (even though we really only have 2 seasons here). But toward the end of those same seasons I am literally craving the next one. So yes, I guess the seasons affect my mood which in turn affects my productivity.

And Ivan's right. One of the great things about a blog is that it counts as writing on days when you can't force yourself to work on your WIP. Just as long as it isn't ALL the writing you do.

I love rain! And when it rains (normally rarely, though this year we have had so much of it) it really gets my creativity juices flowing. Perhaps because of great childhood memories. When it rained, my father and I would go out in the breezeway and read or I would write.Now, when it rains (as long as it is not cold) I grab my notepad (or laptop) and head to the porch. The scent of wet dirt and the splish/splash of the rain, really gets me going.